Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-j7khd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-28T20:37:47.938Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Codevelopment of externalizing and internalizing problems in early childhood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2004

MILES GILLIOM  and
DANIEL S. SHAW
MILES GILLIOM
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
DANIEL S. SHAW
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using cross-domain latent growth modeling, we examined trajectories of externalizing and internalizing problems in disadvantaged boys followed from ages 2 to 6 years (N = 303). On average, externalizing problems gradually decreased and internalizing problems gradually increased. However, we found significant variability in individual-level trajectories. Higher levels of externalizing problems were associated with higher levels of internalizing problems; rates of change were also positively correlated across domains. In addition, high levels of externalizing problems predicted rapid increases in internalizing problems. In follow-up analyses involving child and parenting factors, the combination of high negative emotionality, low fearfulness, and high negative maternal control preceded high, nondecreasing externalizing trajectories. The combination of high negative emotionality, high fearfulness, and high negative maternal control preceded high, increasing internalizing trajectories. Taken together, the results indicate both general and specific processes in the development of early externalizing and internalizing problems.This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Grants MH50907 and MH01666 to the second author and NIMH National Research Service Award 1F31MH12226 to the first author. We thank Emily Winslow and Elizabeth Owens for developing the Early Parenting Coding System and the Negative Emotionality Coding System, respectively. We also thank the study participants for teaching us about child development.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , June 2004 , pp. 313 - 333
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Achenbach, T. M. (1991a). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/ 4–18 and 1991 Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
Achenbach, T. M. (1991b). Manual for the Teacher's Report Form and 1991 Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
Achenbach, T. M. (1992). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/2–l>3 and 1992 Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
Achenbach, T. M., Howell, C. T., Quay, H. C., & Conners, C. K. (1991). National survey of problems and competencies among 4 to 16-year-olds: Parents' reports for normative and clinical samples. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 56.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the Strange Situation. Oxford: Erlbaum.
Anderson, J. C., Williams, S. M., McGee, R., & Silva, P. A. (1987). DSM-III disorders in preadolescent children: Prevalence in a large sample from the general population. Archives of General Psychiatry 44, 69–76.Google Scholar
Bates, J. E., Bayles, K., Bennett, D. S., Ridge, B., & Brown, M. M. (1991). Origins of externalizing behavior problems at eight years of age. In D. J. Pepler & K. H. Rubin (Eds.), The development and treatment of childhood aggression (pp. 93–120). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bates, J. E., Freeland, C. A., & Lounsbury, M. L. (1979). Measurement of infant difficultness. Child Development 50, 794–803.Google Scholar
Bates, J. E., Maslin, C. A., & Frankel, K. A. (1985). Attachment security, mother–child interaction, and temperament as predictors of behavior-problem ratings at age three years. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 50(1–2), 167–193.Google Scholar
Beautrais, A. L., Joyce, P. R., & Mulder, R. T. (1996). Risk factors for serious suicide attempts among youths aged 13 through 24 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 35, 1174–1182.Google Scholar
Biederman, J., Hirshfeld–Becker, D. R., Rosenbaum, J. F., Herot, C., Friedman, D., Snidman, N., Kagan, J., & Faraone, S. V. (2001). Further evidence of association between behavioral inhibition and social anxiety in children. American Journal of Psychiatry 158, 1673–1679.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. H., & Caldwell, B. M. (1984). The HOME Inventory and family demographics. Developmental Psychology 20, 315–320.Google Scholar
Brent, D. A., Baugher, M., Bridge, J., Chen, T., & Chiappetta, L. (1999). Age- and sex-related risk factors for adolescent suicide. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 38, 1497–1505.Google Scholar
Bryk, A. S., & Raudenbush, S. W. (1992). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Calkins, S. D., Gill, K., & Williford, A. (1999). Externalizing problems in two-year-olds: Implications for patterns of social behavior and peers' responses to aggression. Early Education and Development 10, 267–288.Google Scholar
Campbell, S. B. (1995). Behavior problems in preschool children: A review of recent research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 36, 113–149.Google Scholar
Campbell, S. B., Pierce, E. W., Moore, G., Marakovitz, S., & Newby, K. (1996). Boys' externalizing problems at elementary school age: Pathways from early behavior problems, maternal control, and family stress. Development and Psychopathology 8, 701–719.Google Scholar
Capaldi, D. M. (1991). Co-occurrence of conduct problems and depressive symptoms in early adolescent boys. I. Familial factors and general adjustment at Grade 6. Development and Psychopathology 3, 277–300.Google Scholar
Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Newman, D. L., & Silva, P. A. (1998). Behavioral observations at age 3 years predict adult psychiatric disorders: Longitudinal evidence from a birth cohort. In M. E. Hertzig & E. A. Farber (Eds.), Annual progress in child psychiatry and child development: 1997 (pp. 319–331). Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel.
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology 8, 597–600.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1998). The development of depression in children and adolescents. American Psychologist 53, 221–241.Google Scholar
Cudeck, R., & Klebe, K. J. (2002). Multiphase mixed-effects models for repeated measures data. Psychological Methods 7, 41–63.Google Scholar
Earls, F., & Jung, K. G. (1987). Temperament and home environment characteristics as causal factors in the early development of childhood psychopathology. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 26, 491–498.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., Pianta, R., & Ogawa, J. (1996). Early behavior problems: Pathways to mental disorders in adolescence. Development and Psychopathology 8, 735–749.Google Scholar
Frick, P. J., & Ellis, M. (1999). Callous-unemotional traits and subtypes of conduct disorder. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review 2, 149–168.Google Scholar
Hinshaw, S. P., Han, S. S., Erhardt, D., & Huber, A. (1992). Internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in preschool children: Correspondence among parent and teacher ratings and behavior observations. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 21, 143–150.Google Scholar
Hofstra, M. B., van der Ende, J., & Verhulst, F. C. (2002). Child and adolescent problems predict DSM-IV disorders in adulthood: A 14-year follow-up of a Dutch epidemiological sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 41, 182–189.Google Scholar
Ingoldsby, E. M., Shaw, D. S., & Garcia, M. M. (2001). Intrafamily conflict in relation to boys' adjustment at school. Development and Psychopathology 13, 35–52.Google Scholar
Kagan, J. (1989). Temperamental contributions to social behavior. American Psychologist 44, 668–674.Google Scholar
Kagan, J. (1997). Temperament and the reactions to unfamiliarity. Child Development 68, 139–143.Google Scholar
Kagan, J., Snidman, N., McManis, M., Woodward, S., & Hardway, C. (2002). One measure, one meaning: Multiple measures, clearer meaning. Development and Psychopathology 14, 463–475.Google Scholar
Kaslow, N. J., Brown, R. T., & Mee, L. (1994). Cognitive and behavioral correlates of childhood depression: A developmental perspective. In W. M. Reynolds & H. F. Johnston (Eds.), Handbook of depression in children and adolescents (pp. 97–121). New York: Plenum Press.
Keenan, K., Shaw, D. S., Delliquadri, E., Giovannelli, J., & Walsh, B. (1998). Evidence for the continuity of early problem behaviors: Application of a developmental model. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 26, 441–454.Google Scholar
Keenan, K., Shaw, D. S., Walsh, B., Delliquadri, E., & Giovannelli, J. (1997). DSM-III-R disorders in preschool children from low-income families. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 36, 620–627.Google Scholar
Keiley, M. K., Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A., & Pettit, G. S. (2000). A cross-domain growth analysis: Externalizing and internalizing behaviors during 8 years of childhood. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 28, 161–179.Google Scholar
Kopp, C. B. (1991). Young children's progression to self-regulation. In M. Bullock (Ed.), The development of intentional action: Cognitive, motivational, and interactive processes. Contributions to human development (Vol. 22, pp. 38–54). Basel, Switzerland: S. Karger AG.
Lahey, B. B., Waldman, I. D., & McBurnett, K. (1999). The development of antisocial behavior: An integrative causal model. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 40, 669–682.Google Scholar
Lavigne, J. V., Gibbons, R. D., Christoffel, K. K., Arend, R. A., Rosenbaum, D., Binns, H., Dawson, N., Sobel, H., & Isaacs, C. (1998). Prevalence rates and correlates of psychiatric disorders among preschool children. In M. E. Hertzig & E. A. Farber (Eds.), Annual progress in child psychiatry and child development: 1997 (pp. 303–318). Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel.
Lewis, M. (2000). Toward a development of psychopathology: Models, definitions, and prediction. In A. J. Sameroff, M. Lewis, & S. M. Miller (Eds.), Handbook of developmental psychopathology (2nd ed., pp. 3–22). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press
Lipsey, M. W., & Derzon, J. H. (1998). Predictors of violent or serious delinquency in adolescence and early adulthood. In R. Loeber & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions (pp. 86–105). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Little, J. A., & Rubin, D. B. (1987). Statistical analysis with missing data. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Luby, J. L., & Morgan, K. (1997). Characteristics of an infant/preschool psychiatric clinic sample: Implications for clinical assessment and nosology. Infant Mental Health Journal 18, 209–220.Google Scholar
Maccoby, E. (1980). Social development: Psychological growth and the parent–child relationship. New York: Harcourt Brace.
MacFarlane, J. W., Allen, J. P., & Honzik, K. (1954). A developmental study of the behavior problems of normal children between twenty-one months and fourteen years. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Martin, J. A. (1981). A longitudinal study of the consequences of early mother–infant interaction: A microanalytic approach. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 46.Google Scholar
Matas, L., Arend, R. A., & Sroufe, L. A. (1978). Continuity of adaptation in the second year: The relationship between quality of attachment and later competence. Child Development 49, 547–556.Google Scholar
McArdle, J. J., & Bell, R. Q. (2000). An introduction to latent growth models for developmental data analysis. In T. D. Little & K. U. Schnabel (Eds.), Modeling longitudinal and multilevel data: Practical issues, applied approaches, and specific examples (pp. 69–107). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
McArdle, J. J., & Hamagami, F. (2001). Latent difference score structural models for linear dynamic analyses with incomplete longitudinal data. In L. M. Collins & A. G. Sayer (Eds.), New methods for the analysis of change (pp. 139–175). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
McArdle, J. J., & Nesselroade, J. R. (1994). Using multivariate data to structure developmental change. In S. H. Cohen & H. W. Reese (Eds.), Life-span developmental psychology: Methodological contributions (pp. 223–267). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
McConaughy, S. H., & Skiba, R. J. (1993). Comorbidity of externalizing and internalizing problems. School Psychology Review 22, 421–436.Google Scholar
Mesman, J., & Koot, H. M. (2001). Early preschool predictors of preadolescent internalizing and externalizing DSM-IV diagnoses. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 40, 1029–1036.Google Scholar
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review 100, 674–701.Google Scholar
Muthén, B. (2001). Second-generation structural equation modeling with a combination of categorical and continuous latent variables: New opportunities for latent class-latent growth modeling. In L. M. Collins & A. G. Sayer (Eds.), New methods for the analysis of change (pp. 291–322). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2001). Mplus user's guide (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Author.
Owens, E. B. (1998). Resilience to chronic psychosocial stressors: A longitudinal study of preschool-aged boys at risk for developing externalizing problems. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
Patterson, G. R. (1982). Coercive family process (Vol. 3). Eugene, OR: Castalia.
Patterson, G. R., & Capaldi, D. M. (1990). A mediational model for boys' depressed mood. In J. E. Rolf & A. S. Masten (Eds.), Risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology (pp. 141–163). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Patterson, G. R., Capaldi, D. M., & Bank, L. (1991). An early starter model for predicting delinquency. In D. J. Pepler & K. H. Rubin (Eds.), The development and treatment of childhood aggression (pp. 139–168). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Rapee, R. M. (1997). Potential role of childrearing practices in the development of anxiety and depression. Clinical Psychology Review 17, 47–67.Google Scholar
Raudenbush, S. W. (2001). Toward a coherent framework for comparing trajectories of individual change. In L. M. Collins & A. G. Sayer (Eds.), New methods for the analysis of change (pp. 35–64). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Repetti, R. L., Taylor, S. E., & Seeman, T. E. (2002). Risky families: Family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring. Psychological Bulletin 128, 330–366.Google Scholar
Reznick, J. S., Kagan, J., Snidman, N., Gersten, M., Baak, K., & Rosenberg, A. (1988). Inhibited and uninhibited children: A follow-up study. In S. Chess & A. Thomas (Eds.), Annual progress in child psychiatry and child development, 1987 (pp. 256–290). Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel.
Rose, S. L., Rose, S. A., & Feldman, J. F. (1989). Stability of behavior problems in very young children. Development and Psychopathology 1, 5–20.Google Scholar
Rothbart, M. K., & Bates, J. E. (1998). Temperament. In W. Damon (Ser. Ed.) & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (5th ed., pp. 105–176) New York: Wiley.
Rubin, K. H., Hastings, P. D., Stewart, S. L., Henderson, H. A., & Chen, T. (1997). The consistency and concomitants of inhibition: Some of the children, all of the time. Child Development 68, 467–483.Google Scholar
Rubin, K. H., & Mills, R. S. (1991). Conceptualizing developmental pathways to internalizing disorders in childhood. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science 23, 300–317.Google Scholar
Sameroff, A. J., & Chandler, M. J. (1975). Reproductive risk and the continuum of caretaking causality. In F. D. Horowitz (Ed.), Review of child development research (Vol. 4, pp. 187–244). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sanson, A., Oberklaid, F., Pedlow, R., & Prior, M. (1991). Risk indicators: Assessment of infancy predictors of pre-school behavioural maladjustment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 32, 609–626.Google Scholar
Schwartz, C. E., Snidman, N., & Kagan, J. (1996). Early childhood temperament as a determinant of externalizing behavior in adolescence. Development and Psychopathology 8, 527–537.Google Scholar
Schwartz, C. E., Snidman, N., & Kagan, J. (1999). Adolescent social anxiety as an outcome of inhibited temperament in childhood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 38, 1008–1015.Google Scholar
Shaw, D. S., & Bell, R. Q. (1993). Developmental theories of parental contributors to antisocial behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 21, 493–518.Google Scholar
Shaw, D. S., Gilliom, M., Ingoldsby, E. M., & Nagin, D. S. (2003). Trajectories leading to school-age conduct problems. Developmental Psychology 39, 189–200.Google Scholar
Shaw, D. S., Winslow, E. B., Owens, E. B., Vondra, J. I., Cohn, J. F., & Bell, R. Q. (1998). The development of early externalizing problems among children from low-income families: A transformational perspective. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 26, 95–107.Google Scholar
Stanger, C., Achenbach, T. M., & Verhulst, F. C. (1997). Accelerated longitudinal comparisons of aggressive versus delinquent syndromes. Development and Psychopathology 9, 43–58.Google Scholar
Stormshak, E. A., Bierman, K. L., McMahon, R. J., Lengua, L. J., & The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (2000). Parenting practices and child disruptive behavior problems in early elementary school. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 29, 17–29.Google Scholar
Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Tremblay, R. E. (2000). The development of aggressive behaviour during childhood: What have we learned in the past century? International Journal of Behavioral Development 24, 129–141.Google Scholar
Tremblay, R. E., Boulerice, B., Harden, P. W., McDuff, P., Perusse, D., Pihl, R. O., & Zoccolillo, M. (1996). Do children in Canada become more aggressive as they approach adolescence? In Human Resources Development Canada and Statistics Canada (Eds.), Growing up in Canada: National longitudinal survey of children and youth (pp. 127–137). Ottawa: Statistics Canada.
Vasey, M. W., Crnic, K. A., & Carter, W. G. (1994). Worry in childhood: A developmental perspective. Cognitive Therapy and Research 18, 529–549.Google Scholar
Willett, J. B., & Sayer, A. G. (1994). Using covariance structure analysis to detect correlates and predictors of individual change over time. Psychological Bulletin 116, 363–381.Google Scholar
Willett, J. B., & Sayer, A. G. (1996). Cross-domain analyses of change over time: Combining growth modeling and covariance structure analysis. In R. Schumacker & G. A. Marcoulides (Eds.), Advanced structural equation modeling techniques (pp. 125–157). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Willoughby, M., Kupersmidt, J., & Bryant, D. (2001). Overt and covert dimensions of antisocial behavior in early childhood. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 29, 177–187.Google Scholar
Winslow, E. B., & Shaw, D. S. (1995). Early parenting coding system. Unpublished manuscript, University of Pittsburgh.